Opera of Horror and Salvation

The libretto of this opera tells the thousand-year-old story of a young boy called to military service by his country. In an attempt to escape his tragic fate, D. seeks advice from the Mysterious Lake. It sends him to seek salvation deep in the bowels of the city. Like Joseph K. or Winston Smith, his quest will lead him into the grinding machine of the state, where he will eventually be engulfed by autocratic madness and lost souls. Filmed in 2019 before the full scale invasion of Ukraine started, Opera of Horror and Salvation blends opera with footage from the army recruitment office and the city, even as the political environment turns increasingly suffocating. Anastasia Veber (Golden Bear at Berlinale 2022 for Trap), a Russian filmmaker currently based in Berlin, offers here a musical, masterful and resolutely anti-war work. More relevant today than ever, it successfully captures in images and music the young person seeking to escape the fate which has sadly only tightened further. 

Aurélien Marsais

Opera of Horror and Salvation, 2026
Sedated, 2023 
Trap, 2022
Syndrome IO, 2019